Item category 2: POINTER Monthly Essays

According to the author, the security dilemma is an unfortunate reality, perhaps an enduring feature of the self-help international system. He explains that threat assessments exist in part because of the security dilemma, and these assessments can become self-fulfilling prophecies. This happens ...

In this article, the authors first accounted for how Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have developed over time, before describing the current trends in the development of UAVs and the potential for UAVs in the modern context. The authors then discussed the various threats that UAVs pose to Singapo...

The essay views radical Islamic terrorist organisations as anti-fragile systems to understand better the resilience of these organisations and the requirements of a successful counter-terrorism containment strategy. Despite the 20-year Global War on Terrorism, the scourge of terrorism has not bee...

Military intelligence has always held an aura of secrecy and mystery. The success or failure of operations, and the nature of campaigns, hinges on commanders’ decisions, which are in turn guided by intelligence. For those who work ‘behind the curtain’, it has always been a tremendous challenge to...

In this essay, the author cites Mary Kaldor1, who argues that armed conflicts in the post-Cold War era is fundamentally different from traditional Clausewitzian interstate conflicts. Unlike old wars, which were fought between state-controlled militaries for geopolitical and ideological reasons, '...

Using Carl von Clausewitz’s “trinity” as a framework for analysis, this article compares the performances of Generals Arthur Percival and Douglas MacArthur as commanders during the Malayan and Philippine campaigns in World War II respectively. Both campaigns ultimately ended in defeat by the Japa...

The concept of Centre of Gravity (CoG) remains a cornerstone in military planning, yet consensus on its definition eludes both practitioners and academics. This ambiguity stems from Carl von Clausewitz’s varied interpretations, compounded by divergent perspectives within different military branch...

“Operational art” – the grey area between strategy and tactics – has been a much-debated concept since it entered the Western military lexicon more than four decades ago. If the concept is indeed crucial on the battlefield and central to the profession of arms for military commanders, we ought to...

In this essay, the author states that despite the increasing focus on irregular conflicts, today’s threat environment is really a hybrid of conventional and irregular warfare. In his opinion, small states need to retain the ability to deter and prevail in conventional conflict as their geostrateg...

In this essay, the author argues for the proliferation of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV) in projecting air power in 2035, and highlights the concerns involved. The author first describes the likely security landscape in the years ahead. Next, he goes on to highlight the trends of UCAVs an...